"Okay, what do we want to eat?" Natasha asked everyone as they piled into the elevator.

They had a pretty long and eventful day. All that playing around had really worked up an appetite.

"Pizza!" Alya giggled from her place next to Yelena.

She was trying her best to carry Fanny in her arms, but the dog was far too big for her to fully manage that.

Still, Fanny seemed to be enjoying herself.

She loved all love she was getting from the girl, so she didn't really care what they did together.

"Chinese." Wanda piped up.

"Yeah!" Alya changed her vote just to agree with her sister. "Chinese!"

"Chinese it is." Bucky smiled at Natasha.

The two made eyes at each other, but they weren't as discreet as they believed themselves to be. Yelena caught on and cleared her throat, but it did nothing to snap the two out of it.

Alya set Fanny down and leaned into Yelena, who placed a hand on top of her head before she wrapped her arms around her from behind.

"You know, I remember a time you two hated each other." Natasha smirked.

She was so happy they got along and actually liked each other, but that didn't mean she wouldn't tease them from time to time.

"Oh really?" Steve looked pretty intrigued by this new piece of information.

"Lies." Yelena pulled Alya closer. "We have always been friends."

"Sure."

Alya stuck her tongue out at her mother and shrieked when the woman made like she was going to grab it.

The elevator eventually made it up to their floor and the doors opened, prompting Fanny to dash out in search of Mischief.

But she stopped short when she saw the strange, new figures hanging out in the living room.

One adult, and a child.

As a matter of fact, she barked quite aggressively, not having a clue who these two people were and she was ready to do whatever it took to protect her friends if need be.

"Fanny! Down!" Yelena instructed to get her to stop.

The dog growled once more before she disengaged and continued her search for her favorite feline.

"What're you doing here, Tony?" Natasha asked.

She hadn't meant for the question to come out so callously, but he had dropped in unannounced. There was the ever-glaring issue of him and Bucky's tension that had yet to be resolved.

A notice would've been really nice.

"Well, we haven't seen each other in a while and I figured I'd drop in for a quick visit. Morgan's off from school and I've got a couple of meetings in the city." He shrugged.

"Hi!" The child, the little girl, smiled. She was totally unfazed by Fanny's previous behavior.

Alya studied her carefully.

She didn't looked like she could've been any older than five. This must've been the 'Morgan' Tony tried to tell her about after he used the gauntlet.

Morgan's smile was wide and she moved closer to Alya in an attempt at being friendly.

But Alya wasn't used to being around children that were much younger than her, especially girls; besides the Barton kids, but they were different.

They knew a lot more about the terrible things in life, than most kids did. They weren't pushy and they didn't pry. They knew when to leave Alya alone when it was needed.

Morgan looked very innocent. Like she saw the good in everything and believed that there was nothing she should be cautious of.

"Alya, this is Morgan." Tony introduced the two. "Morgan, this is Alya."

"Daddy told me a lot about you." The little girl wrapped her arms around Alya's waist to pull her in for a hug.

Alya tried to tolerate it at first, but her muscles began to tense up and Morgan didn't understand that her body language was screaming for her to let go. She could feel her heart rate quickening and decided right then and there that she needed Morgan to get away from her.

She reminded her of all those girls that were brought to the Red Room and couldn't survive the first round of training. Girls that she's personally hurt after being given the order.

Her innocence made her uncomfortable.

Without thinking, she pried Morgan's arms off of her and pushed her back, stepping away in hopes that the message was well-received.

Her back hit Steve and he put his arm on her shoulder, squeezing her in reassurance.

"It'll take a while, but I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

"I'm gonna go hit the gym." Bucky couldn't take it anymore. The tension was working his nerves. "Excuse me."

"Papa?" Alya turned to look at him and she could see the stress that had taken over on his face.

She knew exactly why it was there and she didn't like it.

"It's okay." He forced a smile that wasn't fooling her in the slightest. "I'm okay."

And with that, he walked to the elevator and left.


"What's that you're watching, kiddo?"

"Nothing." Alya shrugged, flipping through the channels on the tv with the remote in her hand.

Ever since Tony had arrived, she had kept her distance, whether it was emotionally, or physically.

She honestly thought she had forgiven him for everything, but being in the same vicinity really made her believe otherwise.

She tried not to remember what happened in Siberia, but his presence wouldn't let her forget. It was one thing for him to say what he said to her, she didn't think that's what was bothering her. What was bothering her, was the fact that he tried to kill her father and got away with it.

What if Steve hadn't been able to stop him? She'd be fatherless.

Every time she looked at him, she got angry.

And Morgan was beginning to irk her nerves as well.

Alya gave her more leeway being that she was only five and she hadn't actually done anything to directly upset her, but she was getting there.

She was always trying to play with her, or show her something, or talk to her.

Alya just wanted to be left alone.

"Hi, kitty-cat." Morgan turned her attention to Mischief, who had come out of her hiding place to see who these new visitors were.

She recognized Tony, but she wasn't sure who this kid was.

"Her name is Mischief." Alya tried to be nice.

"That's a cool name." Morgan marveled, reaching a hand out to pet her.

And like most young kids, her gentle wasn't really gentle enough.

"You have to do it nicely." The older girl warned. "She doesn't like rough touches."

And just to prove her point, Mischief snapped her teeth before she shook herself and made a move to leave, but Morgan, wanting to continue playing with her, grabbed ahold of her tail and pulled her back.

It wasn't an aggressive pull, but it was still a pull.

No animal liked to be grabbed by the tail and Mischief was no exception.

A loud meow of surprise left her lips and she whirled around, claws out, to fight her way loose.

Morgan gasped in surprise as the cat pounced on her to get her to let go. She hadn't expected that to happen at all.

"Morgan!" Tony shouted, leaping off of the couch to get her, but the child had other ideas.

She panicked and stood up to get away, but Mischief followed her, her instincts kicking in at full force.

Alya had never seen her cat react that way to anyone before. But this was a unique circumstance. Her tail had never been grabbed before, either.

She was going ballistic and no matter how much Morgan ran, she kept on chasing, hot on her trail.

"Mischief, stop!" Alya followed after them while Morgan screamed her head off.

Wanda, who was in her room reading (surprise, surprise), had heard all the commotion and decided to come out and see what the trouble was.

Unfortunately, Morgan tripped over the leg of the coffee table, giving Mischief the chance to attack.

And if her screaming wasn't loud before….

Alya was pretty sure that there wasn't a person in New York that didn't hear her.

Not really knowing what to do, she took off her hoodie and lifted her cat up off of Morgan. Sensing that it was Alya, Mischief calmed down immediately and detracted her claws so she wouldn't scratch her.

"Oh my goodness…." Wanda trailed.

Morgan was a mess.

She was sobbing uncontrollably, there were tears mixing in with snot, her body was trembling, and on her arms, were scratches.

Alya watched as Tony scooped her up in an attempt to console her and she felt bad, but not bad enough to be mad at her cat.

She told Morgan to be gentle and she wasn't.

It was like the time everyone told her not to play around on the stairs, but she did it anyway and fell. She was lucky that Wanda and Peter caught her, so she didn't get hurt, but the fall has been her own fault.

She had been warned.

"D-Daddy!" Morgan hiccuped. "She tried to kill me!"

"It wasn't her fault." Alya furrowed her eyebrows. "She told you to stop."

"Now how is an animal supposed to tell someone to stop?" Tony's attention snapped towards her.

"In her own way." Alya defended, keeping Mischief close.

"You need to learn to train that cat better."

"You need to learn to train your daughter better." She shot back.

One of the first things Natasha told her after she agreed to let her keep Mischief, was that animals were not toys.

They had their own way of communicating and they would let them know when they've had enough. They had good days and bad days.

Their bad days were no excuse to mistreat them.

Apparently, Morgan hadn't learned that yet.

Or maybe she just did.

Tony definitely didn't appreciate that.

"Keep her away from my kid." Is all he said.

"She lives here." Wanda crossed her arms, no longer willing to stay silent. "This is her home."

They were definitely not off to a good start.


"Hey, Thing Two."

One of the silly nicknames Yelena had come up with for Wanda and her niece, were 'Thing One' and 'Thing Two'.

Alya didn't bother turning around to look at her aunt. She was pretty comfortable laying in her position on her bed, flat on her stomach, with her arms in front of her.

The tv was on, it was playing some 'Full House' rerun she wasn't really paying attention to. She just wanted it for background noise.

Mischief was laying right in front of her, relaxing from her previously stressful ordeal and enjoying the soft pets she was getting from her favorite human.

After everything went south, Alya took Mischief straight to her room and shut the door, wanting to be alone with her beloved companion.

"I heard about what happened." Yelena sat down, Alya couldn't see her, but she felt her mattress dip. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Is Morgan okay?" The twelve year old asked.

"She has a couple of scratches, but she'll be fine. Your mama is with her now. She would've come in to see you, but I wanted to do it instead." She assured her, placing her hand down to rub her back. "How's Mischief, hm?"

"She just got scared." Alya's voice was just above a whisper. "She doesn't know Morgan. I kept telling her to be gentle, but she wouldn't listen. She grabbed Mischief's tail and pulled."

"Well, it sounds like she was warned."

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not." Yelena scoffed. "Why would I be mad?"

"She's my cat. Uncle Tony said I should've controlled her better."

"You can't control an animal that is acting on instinct, дорогая." (Sweetheart.) She sighed. "If you were being too rough with Fanny and I told you to be careful, but you didn't listen and she nipped at you, would it be fair of Natasha to be upset with me?"

"No." Alya sat up to face her, careful not to jostle Mischief too much.

"She is old enough to know to do as she's told. You can feel bad, but it isn't your fault, okay?"

"Okay." She blew out a long breath.

"I see the way you look at her." And as if it were possible, Yelena's gaze softened a little more. "Like you're uncomfortable and you want to run."

"It's not that I don't like her…."

"It's hard to be around little ones sometimes."

When Alya looked into her aunt's honey-green eyes, she didn't see a trace of judgement. But she did see understanding.

"I know." Yelena continued. "Sometimes I pass by a little girl and I am brought back to a time where all little girls were the enemy. I try to get away as quick as I can because it makes me very uncomfortable and twitchy. Do you think that's how you feel?"

"Yes." Alya nodded.

"I think it's going to take a very long time for either of us to feel comfortable around others we don't know…..but we have to try, yes?"

"Uh huh." Alya smiled, glad that she wasn't the only feeling a little weird.

"Good. Now come eat. The food is here."

"Can I bring Mischief with me?"

"I don't think that's a very good idea, Baby." Yelena mulled it over before answering. "I think that you should leave her here. She's resting and she probably won't want to be disturbed again for the rest of the day."

"But she has to eat."

"You can bring her dinner later. She'll be okay."

The real reason Yelena told Alya to leave Mischief in her room, was because she wanted to avoid another incident. She and Natasha had gone out to get the Chinese food, opting to actually pick it up instead of ordering it, so they were shocked to find a freaked out Tony, a hysterical Morgan, and a very annoyed Wanda when they got back.

Wanda explained everything to them and while Natasha obviously wanted to go and find Alya, Yelena thought it would be better if she spoke with the girl.

She was proven to be right.

"Alya, come sit." Steve waved her over to the island once the two made their way to the kitchen. "We have your favorite over here."

Looking around at everyone gathered, Alya didn't see her father and that gave her pause. He never missed an opportunity to sit down and have dinner with everyone. He said that it was something he grew up doing and couldn't imagine letting the practice go.

"Hey, kiddo." Tony approached her, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I'm really sorry for snapping at you earlier. I was really concerned about Morgan and I got really scared. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"It's okay." Alya responded dully.

She was trying her best to be nice, or at least civil, but whenever she did, images of Siberia flashed through her mind.

She had to shake her head just to clear them away.

"Where's Papa?" She asked Natasha.

"He's still downstairs." The redhead told her, a concerned look etched on her features. "He wants us to start without him."

Alya huffed and grabbed two plates, filling them with the same kind of food before she marched herself towards the elevator.

She didn't miss Steve's little smirk either.


"What are you doing down here?" Was the first thing that came out of Bucky's mouth once she entered the training gym.

He was taking his frustrations out on a punching bag and he didn't plan on stopping anytime soon.

"Dinner." She showed him the two plates. "I couldn't bring drinks…..I don't have enough hands. Maybe next time I can use my powers and carry them all down." She chuckled, setting the plates on the ground and wiggling her fingers.

But instead of moving the plates, Alya's blue wisps did something completely different and unexpected.

They played exactly what was running through her mind.

Siberia.

Alya froze as her eyes glued themselves to the little display of past events that were coming from her hands and her jaw dropped.

She had no idea that she could even do that, so she had no idea how to stop it.

So she took a random guess and clapped her hands together, making it all disappear.

Bucky felt his mouth run dry and he had to clear his throat just to regain his senses. "How much of that did you see?"

He knew she had been there, yes. But he had no idea how long she had been standing there, just watching. It never came up because neither of the two honestly wanted to talk about it.

She saw more than he thought she did.

"A lot." She mumbled.

All she wanted to do was bring him dinner, not bad memories.

"And I'm still mad at him."

"Alya, you don't have to be upset with him, just because we—"

"—He tried to kill you!" She cut him off. "You won't even eat with us because he's here!"

"Alya, that has nothing to do with him."

"Yes, it does!" She insisted. "I saw you!"

"Alright." Bucky held up his hand to get her to stop yelling before he sat down and picked up a plate, motioning for her to sit by him. "I feel a little uncomfortable."

There seemed to be a lot of that going around.

"But that doesn't mean you should hate him because of what happened between us. He's still your uncle and from what I've heard, you had a really good relationship before all of that happened."

"He hurt you." Alya furrowed her eyebrows.

And that's when Bucky realized that her loyalties lied with him. There was nothing he would be able to say that would change that.

There was a lot of mending to be done, but for right now, he was going to enjoy his daughter's company and eat away his hunger.

Gluing the pieces of a shattered relationship back together would have to wait.